Sheffield Wednesday fan column: I got it wrong about Keiren Westwood​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ – we need to sign him up

The weird thing was that feeling faded quickly among the fan base. For once it was positivity about us and what we have achieved since January.

Leeds deserved to beat us and the scoreline could have been heavier had it not been for Kieren Westwood.

Since his return to the team we have kept consistent clean sheets and there has been order at the back.

I freely admit I got it wrong this time last year, after an article in The Star that talked about who could be sold in the summer, I agreed that Westwood could go. At the time I was looking at our ominous financial situation and the lack of communication from the club, who were, unbeknown to us, in a soft transfer embargo.

Westwood was our most saleable asset and if it meant the security of our future then that was a step I thought we should investigate.

The situation feels very different this year. Mr Chansiri’s reluctance to ‘split up the family’ has meant we have an over bloated squad. Steve Bruce coming in as manager is a blessing in that he has no sentimentality towards the players. Harsh I know but we still have to function as a business.

We already have other clubs looking at our situation and complaining to the FA that we are somehow circumnavigating the FFP rules along with Derby County and Aston Villa. Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough owner, made these remarks this week and cited us as an example.

His argument is that they’ve have had to sell £40m worth of players in order to comply with FFP but we have found other means. Mr Gibson forgets that we haven’t had the luxury of parachute payments like they have and had a transfer embargo placed on us this season.

I’m sure that these comments in no way relate to their promotion push faltering.

We do however have to sell this summer. Westwood is a priority to be signed up and Michael Hector’s situation also needs to be cemented. I think we need to be brutal this summer and look at any serious offer for our players but not at the detriment of our team.